23.3.14

NEW From Schwarzkopf Professional: Bonacure Color Freeze Hair Therapy

Looking after coloured hair can often become somewhat of a hassle. Colouring hair professionally is expensive and time consuming, so we want to ensure we're keeping our style looking fresh for as long as possible. Coloured hair can, as a side effect, cause multiple problems for your barnet - including frizz, damaged hair, lack of
volume and a need for moisture - but tackling all these simultaneously becomes almost a full time job. Schwarzkopf Professional's new Color Freeze range of hair poducts aims to provide up to 90% colour retention and 100% more shine, tiding you over until the next salon visit. Their breakthrough lamination technology claims to protect colour vibrancy and seal in shine, helping your hair to both look and feel much healthier. So, from the six products available which ones do you need to rush out and buy?

The range includes a shampoo, conditioner, treatment, gloss serum, thermo-protect cream and spray conditioner; together the six products provide you with practically everything you need for a well maintained look. Starting with the core products, the Schwarzkopf Color Freeze shampoo, conditioner and treatment help to create a nourished feeling head of hair with a good level of shine. After washing and conditioning, my hair feels soft, smooth and detangled - so much so I've been forgetting to brush it prior to drying, as there are simply no tangles or knots in my normally messy head of hair. My colour does appear a little more vibrant and my hair definitely benefits from a subtle shine, although there's no revolutionary effect that's incomparable to the hundreds of other brands I've previously tried.

Using a couple of drops of the gloss serum can help to smooth hair without weighing it down. Although the texture is extremely light, don't be fooled into using more than the recommended amount - the result is simply greasy locks that lose the ability to bounce and move as you'd like. Similarly, although I loved the idea of the 'spray conditioner', it leaves my hair with a little too much texture and a slightly waxy feeling on the surface. This is definitely one product that would work better on longer hair, or used sparingly alone for maximum effect; however, when left in for the duration of the day it does add shine and smoothness to hair.

The 'thermo-protect' cream offers two benefits in one, great for coloured hair that's in need of both treatment and protection from further damage. Not only does it act like a intense treatment for dry ends, but contains heat protection to prevent damage occuring during heat styling. Although this is a little heavy for my incredibly fine hair, it would be great for those with thicker or longer hair that are in desperate need of a helping hand. Overall the range provides a definite helping hand to those of us struggling to maintain our coloured hair between salon visits, although it's essential to not layer the products too heavily if you've thin hair like mine. However, as these are actually very reasonably priced for a professional brand (£8.80-£11.15) they're definitely worth checking out.